Do you believe in real-life NPCs? Sorry, to explain: there’s an only semijoking theory online that ‘non-player characters’, which simply and unconsciously follow a coded set pattern, have escaped the confines of video games.
And I do reckon that a lot of evidence can be gathered to back up the theory – not least from British roads.
The Volkswagen Tiguan has been the bestselling Volkswagen model globally since 2019, shifting many millions of them in that time.
Indeed, I started seeing third-generation examples everywhere mere months after it went on sale. But I’ve yet to meet a car lover who can convincingly explain why, making me wonder if it’s NPCs buying all these SUVs.
But what is it about this particular one that inspires such excitement in so many non-enthusiasts that they gladly pay extra to have it over that legendary all-rounder, the Volkswagen Golf?
Looks? Handling? Performance? Practicality? None of those aspects seems much better to me on paper. If anything, on first impression, they all seem to be slightly worse (and actually, to be brutally honest, I think this Tiguan looks less appealing than the previous one).
And my road tester colleagues adjudged it to be competitive with its direct rivals but no better than that. So perhaps we really can blame the whim of whoever coded this game we call life? Yes, this demands a thorough investigation.
My new Tiguan is specified in sporty R-Line trim. That would have worried me, given that you can always expect bigger wheels (20in in this case and curiously named after the city of Leeds) to hamper a car’s ride comfort, but thankfully the optional Dynamic Driving Package has been fitted here too, including Dynamic Chassis Control Pro, so I can soften the damping to counteract that at least somewhat.
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Expensive and unexceptional. Mediocre in most areas and does nothing that lots of other cars do for thousands of pounds less.
Downsizing from a Mk 1 Volvo XC90 in mid-2022, we were looking at this class of car and soon discounted the Tiguan - and that was the previous version which had a decent dashboard - because of price and disappointment at the plasticky interior. We ended up looking at the Skoda Karoq, Mazda CX-5, Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson and a used Volvo XC60. In the end we bought the Tucson hybrid which has been great - comfortable, spacious, 230hp, 46mpg over 19,000 miles and nothing's gone wrong.
A couple of things. £48,760 ? Really ?! Wow, not cheap. What's that on lease for 80-90 % of folks? The top spec Hyundai Tuscon plug-in (N-line S) comes in circa 4k cheaper and has most of these options as standard + a few extra more attractive standard features (pano roof, heated rear seats etc etc being a few). Can imagine the Kia Sportage could be even better value?
Why do Autocar testers long-term their cars with unrealistic specs? The 'average' buyer / sorry leaser ' might stick one option pack but not 6-10 (depending on categorisation ! ) ?? Bonkers.
That's an appalling MPG average? Our plug-in gives us 73mpg on our driving (fair enough we are lucky to charge every night and don't hit the motorways very often). But still for a 2025 motor that's a shocker in my books.
Oh, and that dash. Horrible. Hate this cliff-face approach by some manufacturers. Naff looking.
Wow, shocker, you've made a few deliberate mistakes, it's not 49k, you even included the Tow bar in your price, it has a list price of 41k. It's not a plug-in so why compare it with a plug-in's mpg figure.
The Tuscon S-Line S is NOT the top spec level and comes in at 44.5k, 3.5k MORE than the Tiguan, NOT 4k cheaper.